Great fab work, Chaz and Co. If I recall correctly, my '54 had the ****er 44. As mentioned, it should suffice, given a lighter right foot. The only issue may be gear ratio. They ranged from 3.31 for auto ******s to 4.27 for O.D. models like I had.....
Today was one of those days that just evaporated. We thought it would take about an hour to weld in the new spare tire well. It took all day. The chop will have to wait till next week I guess. Three quarters of the job went easy, but as we got to the rear things got tough. It took about ten small patches to get this part accomplished. The entire area where the old gas filler p***ed through had to be blocked out and it was a real time ****. Things just go that way sometimes. Hopefully next week will go better.
The wheel well looks great,,I know the feeling amount all the time consuming small patches,but apparently you guys have turned the corner with the sheet metal repairs and can move on to exploring the options for the top slicing. HRP
Well, this week WASN'T rust repair. We actually began chopping the wagon. Now before you have visions of a radical process, let me tell you that I'm not a fan of severe chops. I'm an old guy, and I like to fit comfortably in my vehicles. Still, a slight chop can add a lot to a project. Here goes. We taped off a starting point. ... a one inch chop. When I cut and set it down I can step back and have a look. I can always take more if I decide to. Then we welded a bunch of cross bracing inside the body to hold this thing in position once that enormous lid was cut free. We used 3/4 inch square tube for this. Then we set to hacking. Cut the top cut first, and then the bottom. That way you're not trying to cut a noodle on the second cut. I used a sawzall. Its fast and accurate. Once everything was cut we lowered the lid down onto the car. There's no need to take it all the way off, just block it up as you cut and then drop it into place. We ended up taking about 1 1/4 inches off the pillars to get the look we wanted. The center pillar is vertical, so we mated the top and bottom and began welding . Here's the pillar at the beginning And here it is welded and dressed out. .. a real nice fit. The front pillar of course had to be wedge cut so it could lean back to the roof Here's a shot of how far we got today. Of course this is the easy part; there's still garnish molding to alter, wing windows to re shape and all the detail work that makes for a real chop. I've seen so many chops where the owner cant even roll up his windows. This isn't gonna be one of those. The rear corners are going to take a LOT of work to make a nice visual line. That's next week.
I love what you are doing, hope the rear tire changing thing works out for you. I had a 63 T-Bird that I lowered 3" and even with removable skirts it would have been a problem on the road. Luckily I never had to do it.
I'd be glad to Danny. I think if I post them together here you can really see the difference...Here's "BEFORE" Here's the "AFTER" pic.
Sweet!,amazing how much difference that slight chop makes,of course the removal of the divider bar enhances the visual look too. You guys are implementing a lot of old school modifications but also several innovative ideas thrown into the mix. I honestly believe this wagon will be a bench mark that other builders will look to for inspiration in the future. HRP
Tasteful chop! I love that you know how to practice restraint, especially when chopping a top is no easy feat. I think most guys have the thought process "If a little is good, more is better." That ain't the case and you've proven it here!
Yeah, I learned my lesson after building this one. It was channeled almost 6 inches.... It was a cool ride, but I had to call AAA to help get me out of the car evertime I had to exit. Damn! What an uncomfortable ride!
Today we worked over the rear corners of the chop. After lowering the top we had to split the rear corner and spread it open so the rear gate and side windows aligned. This left a gap about 3/4 of an inch in the middle. I spliced a wedge shaped piece into that opening and welded it in place every half inch or so. I Then completed those welds and ground them smooth. Here's the rear corner all welded up: Then comes the bondo process. The joint was a good one, so only a little bit of bondo was necessary, and most of that was sanded off as we smoothed the pillar. Finally a coat of primer, and the roof chop looks like it should. It doesn't look like that much work, but it took us all day to smooth all 6 roof pillars. We are Super happy with the look!
The rear part of the chop looks great,,almost like it never was chopped..how about the A & B post? HRP
OK, the body is chopped, now it's time for the doors. The doors were like everything else on this machine - Rusted all to hell. Nonetheless we bolted them in place so we could chop the thing. We had an easy time with the vertical pillar. A slight angle adjustment and a cutout section in the middle. The front pillar needed more cuts to look correct. One at the top, one at the bottom, AND a section. We were very careful to keep an even gap, cause we've all seen chops with wonky looking door fits. Once we got the chop to fit correctly we moved on to the rust issues Here you can see we had to cut about 5 inches off of the bottoms of both the inner AND the outer panel . The rust was awful. We replaced the inner panel, but ran out of time before we could finish the outer panel. Here's a photo of the nice door fit in the opening. We'll finish it next week.
Lord only knows how many chops have WONKY door fitment. You knocked it out of the park with the chop on the doors. You guys are treading in waters with the doors that I was fortunate not to have had to deal with,my doors were near perfect except for a few pin holes. HRP
I know it's too late, but did you guys discuss leaning the B pillars? Nothing big, just 10-15° to give it a touch of forward motion? Just seems that Ford should have done it that way. Maybe I'm leaning toward the Crown Vic thing too much? My '27 T Roadster build: www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t= 734383
The changes are all kinda subtle. The average guy that goes to a car show is not too familiar with early Ranchwagons (hell, who is?) We are gonna keep a lot of stock touches like the dog dish hubcaps, vent windows, door handles and such. It'll look sort of like a restored stock woodie, even though such a thing never really existed. There are a lot of mild changes, but the average guy will NEVER know the extent of them. Even though it is sliced and diced, we're trying to build a car that doesn't hit you in the head with a "look how I altered my rod" at***ude. We thought that leaning the pillar brought the car into the 56 Nomad territory. We'll let Chevy have that honor.
Chuck....I'm looking forward to the wood work. I'm sure you guys have a game plan but will there be metal removed and be built along the lines of the 49-51 Ford woodies or will it be more of a laminate style? HRP
Here's a real wood trimmed 53 wagon.. rare! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sLLiNg7V-E This is along the lines of what we're thinking, only a REAL wood veneer on the side panels instead of a contrasting color of paint as this one has.
This is a '54 Mercury woodie that the video is slower and may help in your design. HRP I suppose it would help to post the link to the video! http://youtu.be/KZl2JX-XPRw
Wow, this is amazing work. I'm glad I "stumbled" onto your thread. I'm subscribing to see how this one turns out. Great work guys!
The body chop is done, but now comes the hard part... Chopping everything else! Lets start with the wing windows. Here's a picture of The wing window held up against the body. There's a lot of work to be done to make it correctly fit the new opening. The metal is thin and brittle, so I heated it with a propane torch to make it mold a little easier. The tops had to be cut the appropriate amount and then riveted back together. Here's a photo of the chopped frame next to the yet unchopped one. Even though it was a light chop, a complete re-shaping was necessary Finally here's a picture of it set in place. The really hard part for me was coughing up the 150 bucks for new weatherstripping!!!!!!!!!!! I mean.... SERIOUSLY? Then we went over to the drivers side and chopped the other door. Here you can see all the cuts and welds I was pretty sure I had a spare tailgate stored out in the back garages, so Steve and I poked around and found this RUST FREE baby in the back Needs a little dent repair, but in AWESOME condition!
Yes sir Chuck,the rubber is pricy and there is a heck of a lot in these cars. The vent windows turned out nice! HRP
I know this is a novice question, but how do you "chop" the weatherstripping? Besides the obvious "using a knife". I've always wondered how one puts the weatherstripping back together once it's been cut to fit the now chopped top. Oh, one more question, as you replaced the multiple layers of metal in the rockers and the rear panel, did you spray some sort of primer on the metal before it was covered up by another piece of metal? Again, I know it's a novice question but I've never replaced multiple layers of metal before and I know I'll have to when I restore my '57 Ranchero one of these years. Thanks David
The weather strip is usually a long strip and you have to trim it to length, if it is formed it can still be trimmed and glued at the ends. When we had spaces open like the floor, I tried to spray some rustoleum primer or paint in those areas like the brace channels while we could get to them. If you are welding in that area, weld thru primer works. I may have missed a few but it is always a good idea to coat them with something if possible.
the chop is exactly the right amount of makin' that thing lower you really got fabbing skills keep the updates comin'
When the weatherstrip arrives I'll post pictures of the operation so you can see how we do it. Thanks for your interest..... Chaz
Chuck,,how about a photo of the car with the door in place,,give us a visual sense of how chopped it is. HRP
The Jalopy Journal
